The Whitby Regional Office will be relocating to Oshawa effective Tuesday November 24, 2009. The computers and phones will be down from late this afternoon until Wednesday afternoon. The phone and fax numbers remain the same.

20 years ago, an act of deplorable gender-based violence by a young man wielding a semi-automatic rifle resulted in the deaths of 14 young women while they were attending a polytechnical school in Montreal. 2 years later,the Parliament of Canada established this day as a National day of Remembrance, commemorating their deaths.

It is most certainly a time to reflect on the issue of violence against women, but even more, it is a day on which we must recognize that until women have economic and social equality in society, the violence will continue. We need to challenge ourselves and think long and hard about how we work toward achieving this very necessary equality.

On December 6th, seek out a candlelight vigil or event in your community to remember the 14 murdered sisters 20 years ago and the 486 women and children that have died in Ontario since then in situations of female abuse. Let us soberly consider the task of bringing an end to the scourge of violence against women in our communities and renew our commitment to work for positive change.